Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 04/00) - Last year, the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre decided to nix the annual awards ceremonies honouring local stage performances.

The reason was that the money would be better used in training efforts, such as workshops.

The University of Manitoba's Chris Johnson, chair of the theatre program, led the first workshop last January. He shared his directing expertise with a group of Yellowknifers well-known for their constant presence in theatre and film.

"The workshop was a great opportunity to get together and work together," Jodi Woollam told the Yellowknifer two weeks after the workshop.

As a result of that first great success, NACC has planned a second workshop.

This time the focus will be on acting skills.

Raye Anderson, education director for Winnipeg's Prairie Theatre Exchange, will lead this year's week-long class.

Anderson has been teaching at the reputable theatre since 1984. She also joined the theatre faculty at the U of M in 1990 and has travelled to places such as Churchill, Man., and the Caribbean to teach workshops.

The workshop begins Saturday, Feb. 6 and concludes the following Saturday.

"What I'm going to be doing the first day is trying to figure out where everybody is coming from and trying to find the right level to work at," says Anderson.

"I'm planning to do some character development workshops -- the different ways that you can build a character. I'm going to do some voice work and some physical movement work, physical characterization work. I'm going to work on how you can explore character and plot through improvisation."

Anderson adds that there will be scene work involved, hopefully with the participants presenting their scenes to their fellow actors.

Those who show up for the initial session on Saturday will then be separated into groups. Each group will receive about 18 hours of training.

At press time, there were still openings for the week-long workshop. Those who are interested can contact the NACC office.